


The Matchmaker

by tjs_whatnot



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-16
Updated: 2014-11-16
Packaged: 2018-02-25 13:40:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2623754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tjs_whatnot/pseuds/tjs_whatnot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sir Nicholas has never had a couple like these two...</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Matchmaker

**Author's Note:**

> Written for harryronreunion at Livejournal.  
> Beta credit by ms_worplesdon

In all the years, decades, centuries and millennia that Sir Nicholas has taken it upon himself to act as castle matchmaker--hell,everyone needed a hobby--he’d yet to find two people more destined for each other and more clueless about it than these two. Sir Nick watched them in the Gryffindor common room, hunched over their homework, sitting too close and yet neither of them taking the next move. He wonders if they, either one of them knew that normally best mates don’t sit _that_ close to each other--ever. Probably not. Neither of them had ever had mates before, best or not, and so they probably thought their affections for each other were completely in keeping with the best of friends.

Sir Nick rolled his translucent eyes and saw that he wasn’t the only one who would like to knock their two heads together and make them see what _every, single,_ other person saw. All eyes were on them, waiting. Waiting for that moment when they realize they’ve been a couple for a very long time. Whether they knew it, whether they’d want to admit it or not. 

He felt the eyes on the pair, felt the shared and unspoken pleas from everyone in the room that seemed like a low frequency, yet highly irritating buzz reverberating around the room. _For the love of all things holy, will you just kiss already?!_

It was then that Sir Nick decided to finally intercede.

Usually in cases like this, in couples this _obviously_ destined for each other, it’s just too easy for him. There’s no challenge in it, so he didn’t need to interfere. But, come on! It had been six years. At 11 it was cute how little they understood about themselves, at 12 it was adorable how little they knew about each other, at 13 how little they knew about how relationships worked, at 14 it was a little less cute how little they understood what their feelings meant. At 15 it was almost annoying how much they mucked up their lives and everyone else’s in their lack of understanding. At 16 it was beyond annoying; it was time.

There had been so many times, so many missed moments that Sir Nick was certain would be _the moment_. There had been moments like that time that Ron had been the Thing That Harry Couldn’t Live Without. Really. That had been his title. How did Harry not know what that meant? That same year, at the Yule Ball when they both ignored the girls they had come with and spent all their time with each other? Did they not see how everyone was watching them? 

And this was just the things that everyone saw, the things that they inadvertently showed the world. Sir Nick also saw the things that _no one_ else saw. He saw the way one looked at the other when they thought they were hidden, he saw the yearning there in those eyes, the fear and the need.

He watched them more than he’d watched any other two people in all his time being dead. And still, it wasn’t until it couldn’t be ignored, until it couldn’t be denied that they _both_ wanted each other and they _both_ were just never, ever going to figure it out. It wasn’t until one night, in their sixth year when the world was falling apart around them and they, both of them in the same night, in the same room, feet away from each other, each one under the strongest silencing spell they could muster, calling out the other’s name as they came into their own hands.

Something _had_ to be done. As much as Sir Nick would have loved to just knock their heads together until they saw the obvious, there were a few flaws in that plan. Firstly, it never worked that way and more importantly, being incorporeal, it wasn’t possible. He wracked his mind; what had worked before? What did most people need to fall in love?

It was then that he remembered that he had, in actuality, been responsible for getting both boy’s parents together before them. What had they needed? What had been their hurdles? Arthur and Molly were easy problems to solve. They simply had never really _seen_ each other, hadn’t noticed their perfect match was right there in front of them. He had only to put them in the same place at the same time without any other distractions. Luckily, he realized they both liked to get away sometimes alone on the grounds. He just had to find a way for them to be on the grounds alone, together. It was almost too easy.

Harry’s parents though? They had been a lot of work. They had the opposite problem, they had seen each other, but unfortunately, they had only seen the bad parts, the irresponsible and asinine parts. He had to make them see that wasn’t all they were, all they could be. He knew that together they would make each other better. Getting them there had taken all his wiles. First he needed to separate them from the pack; James from his hormonally-challenged brethren and Lily from her morality-challenged greasy friend. 

So, what Harry and Ron needed was to see each other, _really_ see, without distractions, without people mucking it up. It was hard to do when you were the Chosen One and his Best Mate when there was the beginnings of a war. Harry had so many responsibilities, so many people depending on him and all of this alone and Sir Nick would leave it alone. But also, he realized, for all of his responsibilities to be managed and tolerated he _needed_ Ron. He needed Ron to see him and all they could be, if both of them would just open their damned eyes. 

The perfect plan came when Sir Nick overheard a conversation between Harry and Hermione.  
“You’re going to the game, right?” Hermione asked.

“Of course. Just because I’m not allowed to play doesn’t mean that I’m not going to support the team. Besides, it’s not often I get to actually _watch_ Quidditch. Plus, I want to be there for Ron. If the Slytherins keep singing that bloody song during the entire game, he’s going to need all the cheering faces in the stands he can get.”

Hermione looked at him like she wanted to say something and Sir Nick wished she would. It would make his job so much easier. 

“What?” Harry asked, noticing the look as well.

“Nothing. You’re right. We need to be there. _For_ Ron.”

Now Harry looked like he wanted to say something. He let it go though and they continued down the hall.

It would take some work, but Sir Nick was now dedicated to this project like none before it. Thankfully, he knew so much about the boys by now, knew what made them tick, what stories they could be told to be where he needed them to be. It wasn’t deceitful if it got them together, only if it failed.

Of course, there were parts of the plan that were out of his hands, things he’d have to have contingency plans for. Like say, if Gryffindor lost the match, especially if they lost the match due to Ron. He didn’t want to think about that though. He was, after all, the Gryffindor ghost. Defeat was not something he dwelled on. 

Like always, the day of the game, he watched Harry and Ron and waited. Like always he wanted to scream at them, _Why can’t you see?_ when he watched them watching each other, when he felt the need in both of them so strong he marveled how he felt it when he was dead and yet these two… ugh, these two.

“Ah, good to see you here today young sir,” Sir Nick said, floating over Harry as he stood in the stands cheering and groaning with the rest of the crowd. “How are you enjoying the game so far?”

“It’s great,” Harry said, trying to look around Sir Nick. He was transparent, but not entirely see through. 

“Must be hard though, not being out there, not doing what you’ve done so many times before.”

“A bit.” Harry slid over so Sir Nick could float down next to him in Hermione’s abandoned seat. It was empty because he had sent Neville to retrieve her for some question about an assignment coming due. She’d be back, but it gave Sir Nick time to talk to Harry.

“I’m sure it is. All the pressure, the excitement, the work paying off and the ritual.”

“The ritual?”

Sir Nick smiled. He had made sure that would be the word he noticed. “You know, preparing for the game, the donning the uniform. Then after, what do you do after the game?”

“Depends if we win, if I’m still standing.”

Sir Nick laughed more than necessary. “And if you win? And you’re still alive?” 

“Well, the team and all Gryffindors come down to the pitch and we celebrate. Then we all go to the locker room and get cleaned up and go over the game again before we come back to the common room and celebrate some more.”

“Ah, good times. You’ve had a lot of them.”

“Yes I have.” Harry side eyed Sir Nick. 

“And now you get to share all of this with Ron. That must be a new sort of wonderful.”

“It is.” Harry’s eyes glistened and he sighed. Sir Nick wanted to have the ability to smack him so bad. 

“I imagine. The camaraderie, the shared victory. Like I said, the ritual.”

“The ritual.” This time it wasn’t a question, it was almost involuntary. Sir Nick knew his mind was there and not here. And though he stayed and watched the game and cheered when others did, groaned when he was supposed to and got to his feet and stampeded down the stands when everyone else did. But, when all the rest of the Gryffindors went to the pitch, most of them heaving Ron on their shoulders, Sir Nick watched as Harry watched Ron, then rushed himself to the locker room.

Sir Nick left Ron and the rest of the celebrating crowd and followed Harry. Just to make sure he would go where he was supposed to and do what he was supposed to. Not that Sir Nick wanted to watch any of that, but he had come too far and he was too close to leave it to this two dunderheads anymore. 

Harry ducked behind the stands and pulled out his Invisibility Cloak so he could get to the locker room through the crowd without questions or conversations. His friends in Gryffindor were still in the pitch and would remain there for at least a half an hour to an hour. He had time. Just enough if he wasn’t stopped or delayed. The Invisibility Cloak did it’s part, Sir Nick did the rest. He made sure Harry got to the locker room in plenty of time to strip down and cast his silencing spell--just in case, always just incase--and dipping his head under the hot spray of water.

“Good game,” he said to himself and in a slightly deeper voice, “Yes, good game indeed.”

Sir Nick slipped back out of the room. This was just too sad to watch. He had to find Ron. Now.

Thankfully, the celebration at the pitch was still in swing, but the rest of the school had faded away so there wouldn’t be a crowd. He prepared himself and his tremendous acting ability.

“Have you seen Harry?” he asked some girl who looked around and shook her head. He asked a few more people before approaching Ron, just Ron. “Have you?”

“Have I what?”

“Have you seen Harry?”

Ron instantly stopped smiling and he shook off the people slapping his back. “No, why? Where is he?”

“I saw him chasing someone a bit ago, I followed them for as long as I could, but lost him by the Gryffindor lockers.”

He had barely got the words out before Ron took off in that direction. He had to rush to get to them before Ron. He needed to make sure Harry was where he needed to be. He was. In the showers, cock in hand. He heard Ron behind him. At the last minute Sir Nick removed Harry’s silencing spell.

His heavy breathing and the sound of water spray stopped Ron storming into the locker room and disrupting Harry. Instead, he stood and watched transfixed as Harry continued to stroke himself. 

“Oh, oh, ohhhh, Ron!”

Sir Nick watched Ron’s eyes bulge as he swallowed his shock. Sir Nick beamed. “My work here is done.”

But then Ron snuck back and hid and Harry turned off the shower and got dressed. He walked out of the stalls and right past Ron who didn’t say anything or bring any attention to himself.

Sir Nick wanted to scream. 

And there was the rest of the team storming in and the moment was completely and totally gone. 

_Done. Totally done. I have failed and I will never, ever try again. Ever._

He watched as the boys all took off their clothes and got in the showers, laughing and teasing each other. He watched as Ron joined them as if nothing had happened, as if he hadn’t been alerted that the man he most loved also loved him.

_Done. Done. Done._

And he didn’t even care when Harry returned under his Invisibility Cloak and watched Ron.

 _The little shits totally deserve each other and I am **done**_.

He went back to the tower to wallow.

And he stayed to wallow some more. Even though the party seemed to have just arrived and people were still wearing party hats and celebrating. Harry came in and sat with Hermione and neither of them were as jubilant as the rest of the crowd. 

Sir Nick didn’t care.

Then the whole team came in, or almost the whole team. Ron wasn’t there.

Sir Nick didn’t care.

The crowd went wild again and Harry tried to join in and participate, but Sir Nick could see that his heart wasn’t in it. 

 

Sir Nick didn’t care.

Ron walked in and Sir Nick watched as he scanned the room looking for someone. He saw him find Harry. He saw him rush to Harry and he saw, with breath he no longer had held, he saw Ron reach for Harry, pull Harry to him and without thought, without conversation, kiss him.

And the crowd went wild. 

“About time!” Hermione and Ginny screamed out. Everyone laughed, but Ron didn’t stop kissing Harry and Harry didn’t stop thoroughly enjoying it. 

Sir Nick beamed. _Finally. My work is done_ and he floated away, deciding to retire from the job of matchmaker.

~fin~


End file.
